Beyond The Call Of Duty
by AvalonBay
Summary: What life does a ranger lead when they're no longer a ranger? During a power ranger day celebration, the rangers comes back together for a mini reunion and realize their tenure in intergalactic battle have taken tolls on them that they may not be able to repair.
1. Chapter 1

**Beyond The Call Of Duty  
**

 **Summary – **What life does a ranger lead when they're no longer a ranger? During a power ranger day celebration, the rangers comes back together for a mini reunion and realize their tenure in intergalactic battle have taken tolls on them that they may not be able to repair.

* * *

"Dr. Cranston?"

Billy turned from the view of MITs sprawling campus. Had to tear himself away, really. The view was one of the best he could ever have. Tall, picturesque buildings, previously updated by the million dollar grant that some alumni donated to the reconstruction of the campus.

Reconstruction. The idea made Billy smile. The campus didn't need to be reconstructed. It looked as beautiful as ever. Cracks on some of the older buildings had hardly begun to form before construction and landscaping was implemented to seal it over and plant new flower beds. And Billy watched it all happen, knowing it wasn't the campus's physical image the board wanted to improve.

But the hypothetical image. The 'school for nerds' wasn't going to be so 'nerdy' anymore. With modern architecture projected to be added to the buildings, the campus was slowly becoming a juxtaposition; a DC meets San Francisco vibe where the art buildings were slanted this way and that, and the science halls were reminiscent of the Capitol building.

But Billy appreciated it. Had learned to love the school since starting his undergraduate degree a year and a half earlier than the peers he grew up with. And yet, within undergrad, schoolwork had been easy. It'd been easy when he was in elementary school as well, all the way up to high school. He had numerous opportunities to move up grades, probably could've graduated high school by age thirteen had he wanted.

And yet…he wasn't emotionally ready.

Billy was a nerd, in all essence of the word. He liked to take things apart to learn how it worked before putting it together again. (He could still hear his mother's screams in his ears from the time he took apart her vacuum cleaner, just for it to stop working right after). He liked to check out the biggest books of science, technology, and history form the library more so than the juvenile books his classmates easily devoured.

He may as well have put a giant 'kick me' sign above his head in neon. Bulk, Skull and Sharkie jumped on the bullying wagon within seconds of seeing him. Billy didn't like a lot of attention on himself; as much pride as he put into his work, he turned in on himself, made himself appear smaller so that the bullying trio wouldn't notice him. It never worked. They only bullied him harder, and he regressed into his books more.

Even when Kimberly, Jason, Trini, and Zack defended him, he knew he was different. But they still loved him. So, he attached to them, wasn't able to leave them behind even with the amazing opportunity to learn and study at his own level.

He just wasn't ready.

Once leaving Angel Grove, he was ready for anything that came his way. Going from a peace conference to undergrad at MIT, which he breezed through, staying on for Grad school and then receiving his PHD was nothing short of simple for him. Being able to study anything he wanted all the while, was the best part. Intergalactic travels and technologies, all falling beneath biology…while also looking in mythology to quench his history thirst. MIT was a dream for him and he took advantage of that dream.

Allowed himself to leave the life that for, better or worse, would stick with him for the rest of his life.

"Dr. Cranston?"

The question was asked again, this time a bit louder. Startled, Billy blinked and focused on the person that called his name. The older woman, Professor Doan, who had shared the office next to him since he accepted the position of becoming a professor at MIT. She was very prolific in the sciences, especially mechanical engineering. A topic Billy was well versed in considering all the gizmos and gadgets he'd invented over the years.

But, she was tenured and he was not.

It hovered over his head every time the school year came to a close. Made him wonder if going into teaching high school was the better path. It was certainly less stressful. A smile came to Billy's lips at the thought. Dealing with hormone charged teenagers on a day to day basis, teenagers who were very different than himself and his friends when they were teenagers. They worried about the future of the planet, environment, and economy as the days passed.

They cared more about…well…he wasn't quite sure?

The students he had were a bit older; they spoke about parties they went to, dinner with each other, celebrities on shows he didn't routinely watch but looked up to continue holding a rapport with them. When they weren't too busy looking at the phones sitting on their laps.

Billy had a no cell-phone policy in his class, something he took from Professor Doan, who's eagle eyes were able to find offenders and embarrass them, "There's nothing that interesting in your lap," before going along with her lesson plan.

Now, she stood in the doorway to his room, holding onto the doorknob with a withered hand that—upon closer inspection—he saw was shaking. She wasn't getting any younger.

"Yes, Professor Doan, how can I help you?" Billy asked, turning a warm smile her way.

Professor Doan gently shook her head. "I told you before, Billy, you can call me Ruth."

Billy nodded. She _had_ told him before. Had practically demanded it the first day they met. Saying it 'knocked down barriers' and 'kept thing simple' between the fellow professors and students. If they continued to let their titles stand in the way, 'professor', 'Dr.' then how were they to mutually connect and allow themselves to really have a meeting of the minds?

However, Billy'd been raised to always be polite. "Yes, sir,", "No, ma'am,", "I'm sorry?", "Pardon?"

All until he met Zack anyway.

The thought made Billy frown. Zack. Zachary Taylor. He hadn't thought about Zack in years. Wouldn't allow himself to. His stomach rolled, squirmed with the familiar feeling he'd pushed down every time it started to inch its way back up. He'd seen emails and other messages pile up over the years, always pausing for a second before deleting them. Most of the time he'd do it without giving in to his curiosity. Every now and then, one would catch his eye.

He'd glance over it. See the pleasantries as if no time had passed since their last battle. But their wounds—visible and invisible—couldn't be ignored. The brief reminder would have him scramble to delete the message, roll through the guilt that'd seize his stomach, and then bury himself in work to forget it.

They were getting smarter. They figured out the best ways to get to him. A slight puncture in the safeguard he'd put up years before. Billy shook the thought away and focused his attention to his co-worker once more.

"There's only so many things I can compromise on," he apologized. "Addressing people by their titles isn't one of them. It's stuck in me, I suppose." He nodded for her to continue. "You were looking for me?"

"Yes, your phone has been ringing all day." Professor Doan stalked into Billy's office, waving a post-it note in her hand. Held it out as if it was a dog turd she'd picked up off the front quad. "I took the liberty of taking a message for you once whomever was calling for you became impatient."

Billy grimaced, glancing at his desk. Multiple post-it notes sat scattered along the bottom of his monitor and attached to the side of his desk. Some starting to peel from the corners, some already lost their grip and fluttered to the floor, the rest holding still.

How many had he missed and not realized it?

Deadlines. Meetings. Reminders.

Billy could never be accused of being scatterbrained. Focused. Driven. Holding a bit of tunnel vision, maybe. But not scatterbrained. He had an idea he already knew what the message was that was to be given to him.

"I'm not your answering machine," Professor Doan continued. She pressed the post-it note into Billy's chest and gave him a look that others would've withered away from. Billy, on the other hand, had worked with her long enough to know the gleam behind her eyes was of mirth not of irritation. "And I don't expect to be treated like your secretary without some other added benefits."

Billy smiled, taking the note. "What benefits would you like?"

"More vacation days!" She immediately barked. Then her face softened. "To visit my great-grandson more often."

"You're more than welcome to take some time off, I can cover your classes whenever you need it."

"I don't need you to treat me like I'm in the nuthouse already, I have a few more years in me. Once I start to spout off silly things like my head is in the clouds, then you can take over my classes." She turned to leave, only stopping to ask. "And what's this panty day?"

With a start, Billy blinked in surprise. Professor Ruth Doan could be crass and at her age was nothing short of getting right to the point. But he'd never experienced anything _that_ forward from her. "I'm sorry?" He asked.

"Some sort of a day that this guy was telling me about. Saying it was important for you to return to Angel Drove."

It clicked in the back of Billy's head. "Angel Grove?" he asked.

"I know what I said! Yes, Angel Grove! What this panty day he was going on about?"

Billy pressed his lips together. He took in a deep breath through his nose, focused on his lungs swelling before slowly letting it out. A move he'd learned from one of his best friends a long time ago. How fitting.

"It's nothing," Billy said, sincerely. He pressed the post-it note to the side of his desk as he leaned against it. Hoping she didn't notice how he tried to hide it. "Just an event that's going on back in my hometown."

Professor Doan grunted. "Some event," she murmured. She looked Billy up and down, her eyes flickering over his form. Her lips pulled back at the corners. "It's not quite the sort of thing I'd thought you'd be into, but I guess there's a lot of things I don't know about you Dr. Cranston."

Billy smiled. How true that was. Professor Doan shuffled her way out of his office, closing the door behind him, prompting Billy to practically collapse into his chair. He glanced at his desktop computer, eyes sliding over the blue swirling backdrop to the date in the corner.

Only a few days away.

Had it been another year already?

"Panty Day."

Power Ranger Day.

Billy didn't have to re-read the note to know who was the one who had been consistently contacting him.

Tommy Oliver didn't know when to quit.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you ChibiDawn23 and her story _Once A Hero_ for inspiration for this story that I've been working on for a while. I'm really excited for this one and hope you all enjoy it as well. Also, thanks to _SaturdayPeople_ for looking over this chapter for me.

I was originally going to update _Shattered Grid_ today, but this kept nagging at me. It's not exactly within the Avalon/Bailey series as it does change things that I've written within _New Beginning,_ but it is set in the Dino Thunder era.

~ **Av**


	2. Chapter 2

Tommy Oliver certainly did _not_ know when to quit.

He didn't know when to give up on people that he deemed worthy in some way. It's what made him a good teacher. There were plenty of students in his classes that made things difficult for him; kids with problems at home, kids who weren't doing their school work, kids who goofed off in class. They were the ones that he certainly couldn't give up on, the way they were crying out for attention. It was easier to help them.

Maybe because he had such a great teacher in Ms. Appleby who did the same for him. It was no secret among anyone—not even the faculty and staff at Angel Grove High—that while Tommy had good grades, he didn't really have the brain for school. He was absentminded, forgetful, a little unorganized. No matter how often his friends and family tried to help him out, he was a bit scatter brained. And Ms. Appleby was patient with him, she waited while he rooted around for his homework, listened as he apologized and offered to re-do it if he couldn't find it, smiled sympathetically when he turned on crumpled pages with ripped corners.

She encouraged him every chance she got, and it made him feel good. Especially when she'd spend a lot of time after school helping him study, when Billy's and Kimberly's attempts didn't work out. There was someone in his corner other than the rest of his ranger team, other than his parents, other than the people that _had_ to be there in a sense. And he was grateful for it. Honestly, even after his grades improved, he went to Ms. Appleby for continued help, continued guidance. He owed his current teacher career to her.

So he made sure to find students that needed his help, those that were struggling, and did everything he could to be there for them as a teacher, as a mentor.

He had no idea his being a mentor would eventually become the biggest job he ever had because of Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent. Four students who he, otherwise, may not have paid much attention to, if they'd been normal students. They caught his eye the second he saw all of them, when Principal Randall declared he was to run detention for them—though Trent wasn't at the school at that time. Something about the way they wore certain colors was familiar to him, especially when the rest of his students seemed to enjoy the idea of wearing a mis-match of colors at the same time, those three were all within their own colors.

A part of him, at the time, had a feeling he knew what was about to happen. A sort of sixth-sense that there were power ranger dealings that was going to happen again. Of course he knew it, he had the Dino Gems sitting in his basement lab. But he hadn't thought a soccer player, a musician, and a computer nerd were the ones who were going to wield the powers. All until he saw what they were wearing, how they sniped at each other, and how eager they were to go explore in what may as well have been his backyard.

After that, it was just a waiting game.

Had he known he'd turn into a ranger again, as well, he would've laughed. He was too old. Getting up there in years. He was just a science teacher. Then again, it was like riding a bike when he got back in the suit for the first time—albeit in a new color. That was the hardest part for him to get used to, having to put more black in his closet. He couldn't quite figure it out, couldn't explain what it was about the color thing, maybe it was part of the morphing grid, part of the destiny of being a ranger that drew you toward a color.

Before moving to Angel Grov, he wore a lot of different colors, but in the weeks leading up to it, he suddenly became obsessed with the color green, gravitating toward it whenever his mother dragged him shopping—as he cared more about martial arts.

It was destiny.

And that destiny and the legacy of being a ranger. Protecting every city that a monster or an intergalactic being showed up, was what kept them all going. It wasn't exactly a thankless job, there were numerous points in the history of being rangers that made them feel good for what they were doing. Just as there were people who didn't like the presence of the power rangers, knowing if they were around people would get hurt, buildings would crumble, someone would get killed, evacuation measures would be put in place, and money would be thrown into rebuilding the city.

As Tommy sat in his office, looking over the comments of the annual Power Rangers Day, he couldn't help but shake his head. There were many, many people excited about what the day was going to bring for Angel Grove, but there were just as many people who were scathing about it. And, admittedly, they brought up good points.

Old evacuation plans that needed to be changed, lives that had been lost where they didn't know who to blame, those that had to move due to the danger of the monsters, those that lost money on property as the value of the housing market dropped drastically, how kids were getting into fights in school because of emulating the power rangers. The list went on and on. Some of the arguments were invalid, but Tommy couldn't help but take some of them to heart.

Simply because he heard his parents whispering around it behind closed doors.

"Do you think we made a mistake moving here?" His mother asked one day, voice barely audible over the sound of running water and dishes knocking together as his parents cleaned up after dinner.

Tommy still remembered the way he craned his neck over the top of the couch, his school books scattered around him as he struggled to do his homework. He strained to hear.

His father shook his head sadly. "It's not like we can move away," he reminded his wife. "The value has gone down."

"Surely, it couldn't have gone down that much. We live in one of the nicest neighborhoods here. I mean, I know it's not the _rich_ neighborhood, but—"

"—But, people don't want to live in Angel Grove anymore. The Power Rangers may be here to help us, but it's dangerous. The police can only do so much when it comes to petty crime, but what's going to stop one of those monsters or that massive robot to step down and crush someone by accident? God only knows it's what happened to some of the people on those missing persons posters."

Tommy swallowed hard as he listened to his parents. He'd never heard them say a bad word about the Power Rangers before. He could only keep his ego in check for so long while his parents went on and on about how they'd saved the day. But now…

His father continued. "Half the city couldn't get evacuated in time during the last attack. And the repairs on so many buildings…the city is losing money and there's only so much that can happen before Angel Grove is a ghost town."

Thankfully, Angel Grove didn't turn into a ghost town, but things weren't as good as they had been. Since Astronema attacked, the entire city had almost been destroyed, leveled to the ground. Tommy couldn't imagine—and still couldn't bring himself to know—how many lives were lost from the satellite beams that attacked, from falling buildings, those that may have been trapped in rubble, harmed in the hospital…it was too much to deal with.

So, this Power Rangers Day was important. Important to show everyone that the Power Rangers were good people. Not all of them had revealed their identities, but it was something that he'd thought about. Maybe if they showed off who they were and how much they'd helped the city…in and out of the suit…

 _Never mind that,_ Tommy thought. _So long as we can show why the Power Rangers were good for Angel Grove and that they'd always be there to help, we can turn things around._ As it was, Power Ranger day almost didn't happen. There was a lot of strings he had to pull, a lot of conversations…but it was going to happen and he'd have everyone there, even if it killed him.

Tommy grimaced at the thought, his eyes shifting to the frame photograph of his parents on his desk. A pang of sadness filled him. How long had it been since he'd gone to visit their graves? Long enough if he couldn't quite remember.

"Hey, Dr. O!" Tommy looked up at Conner McKnight's cry and gave him a stern look. Conner stopped in his tracks, holding up his hands. "I mean, Dr. Oliver." At Tommy's satisfied smile, Conner dropped his hands to his sides. "You know, you really have to get over that whole professionalism thing, it doesn't really suit you."

Tommy lifted an eyebrow, amused. "Me being professional doesn't suit me?"

Conner shrugged. "Yeah."

"How so?" Tommy leaned back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm really curious."

A look of exasperation shot through Conner's eyes. "You're a power ranger, man, you don't have to act like your lives are separate. It can help you out in the long run."

At that, Tommy couldn't help but grin. "How many girls have you told you're a power ranger?"

Conner grinned back in response. "One, but she didn't believe me. I'm talking about this confidence thing you've got going on. As Dr. O, you're this meek, sometimes serious man who will let his students walk all over him—"

"—Wait a minute." Tommy held up a hand. He didn't let his students walk over him, he gave them the chance to express themselves. All the same, he knew how to reel them in if they were getting to a bit too out of hand.

Conner ignored him. "And when you're a Power Ranger, you kick ass. It's awesome, dude, but, come on, you've really got to lighten up sometimes." He gestured to the side, where a Power Rangers Day flier peeked out from below a stack of ungraded papers on his desk. "Like this power ranger thing you're bringing us to. You look like you're about to go to your grave. This is exciting. Aren't you happy to see your friends again?"

"Well, that's the thing, Conner." Tommy sighed. He was silent for a long moment, shifting his eyes away from the young red ranger. How could he get him to understand the true realities of being a ranger? That it was something that kept you together when it was happening, but may tear you apart later? Conner was excited about being a ranger and the life it gave him, though he was learning how to take it seriously, there was no point in crushing him yet. As it was, Conner's enthusiasm was contagious. "I haven't seen some of them in years—"

"—And you think you're starting to look old?" Conner nodded sympathetically. Tommy laughed. Oh, how far off he was. "Don't worry, it was bound to happen. And all these ranger stuff if keeping you in shape, it's just the wrinkles by your eyes that's the problems."

"I don't have wrinkles."

Conner leaned toward him. "Are you sure?"

"What did you want, Conner?"

"Oh." Conner smiled sheepishly. "Well, I was just thinking that, with this whole ranger day thing we're going to, that you, you know, wouldn't mind if we didn't turn our work in on time?" Tommy's smile faded as he lifted an eyebrow. "I mean, we've going to be travelling and there's going to be a lot of events at this event and—"

"—Did the others nominate you to come talk to me?" Tommy interrupted.

"Well, I wouldn't say volunteer more than I'd say forced—"

"—Because if it were Trent or Kira I may have thought about it. If it were Kira, I'm sure she could've easily convinced me on it. But since you asked…I have the feeling it's because you procrastinated on some of your work." Tommy did his best not to smile when he saw Conner's hopeful smile fall. "My deadline is as it stands."

Conner sighed and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Conner?"

The red ranger turned back hopefully.

"Don't forget we have to leave early in the morning to get to Angel Grove on time."

Conner nodded and left Tommy's office. He could practically see the gears turning in Conner's head to come up with an excuse as to why he wouldn't have his homework ready on time. Tommy turned back to his stack of papers and pulled them toward him. He pulled out a red pen and started to read over the first paper, trying to stay focused.

But the Power Ranger Day flyer continued to taunt him. He had to send out notifications to more of his former teammates and friends, whether they were in space or in hiding. He'd find a way to get in touch with them. Because Power Rangers Day was something they couldn't ignore.

And besides, it's been a long time since he'd seen them.

Maybe a bit too long.

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, there's Tommy who's having some troubles as well. There's more than enough coming up for the rangers and I'm excited for you all to see what's going to happen. Thank you for all the interest and reviews so far, I hope this update is just as satisfying.

~ **Av**


	3. Chapter 3

Jason Scott was the only ranger left—from the original team—who still lived in Angel Grove.

He saw how everything changed once the Power Rangers left. Or, more to the point, once their identities were revealed. He had every chance of outing himself as a ranger when he saw Andros, Cassie, Carlos, TJ, Ashley, and Zhane all reveal their identities to the citizens that had just stood up to Astronema. But saw there was no point. He wasn't a ranger anymore, and he'd already been doing his part to help the citizens get to safety without needing the glory.

Jason had never been a glory hog as it was. Every interaction he had with Bulk where he 'came out on top' had been something he felt amusement over for a few seconds. Amusement that Bulk had managed to make a fool of himself again. But the pats on the back and good wishes he'd received after was something he couldn't quite take pleasure in. He'd embarrassed someone—after that someone had tortured him again—but what was so fun about it? He'd hoped that Bulk and Skull would've gotten the hint and stopped, but maybe they were lonely? Far lonelier than Jason would've thought at the time.

He was a teenager, too. And as much as he tried to be upstanding, he did still have his moments of wondering what others thought of him and how he came across to others. As an adult, it was, hopefully, a fear left well behind in the years of body odor and acne. When Astronema attacked, leveled the city, his hero instincts kicked in and he worked to keep as many people safe as he worked to get around the rubble to safe spaces that'd been made.

Then there were the rangers. Revealing themselves. And for that split second, he thought of saying he was a ranger, too. Not for the glory, he couldn't morph anyway—though he did still hang onto his communicator—but to help those that looked at him with nothing short of fear. He ultimately decided against it, wanting his actions to speak louder than words.

And he still felt that way, often volunteering his free time to work at the nearby restoration sites. It was strange to see how much had changed in Angel Grove as the years went on; Ernie's shut down when he passed away and re-opened as a coffee shop. The Youth Center wasn't so much of a youth center anymore. Not in a way he remembered. It took out all the gym equipment and replaced it with computers, tablets, phones, video games. A place where the teens went to stare at screens and get lost in fantasy worlds.

That wasn't so bad, going off into a world that made you feel strong, powerful, more in control. He understood that feeling, often finding entertainment in taking down putties, waiting for the time of day when it'd be called away so he could fight them. But he also missed the sense of community that the youth center engrained in everyone. Hell, how would Tommy Oliver had fit in so easily without it?

 _Well, Kim certainly did help…_

Jason smiled to himself, leaning to the side so that he could stretch out his right leg, working out the pulled muscle that'd been plaguing him after working so hard. Old habits died hard, he supposed. He had to have at least two workouts a day, one in the morning to pump iron, and one after work to work on his martial arts, using the meditative process to release all the stress from the day. How he managed to continue that routine as a Paramedic, not a lot of people knew. Neither did he. The work hours were strange, he usually did 48-hour shifts, then had 96 hours off, but, sometimes, he worked more.

He had to make sure there were people that need more care. Holidays made the loneliest take some drastic measures. And, he found, the number seemed to increase again as the Power Ranger Day came closer. It was the biggest difference of Angel Grove, he supposed. That the others wouldn't recognize.

People weren't as idealistic as they used to be, the city certainly wasn't. People looked toward the sky at random points of the day, as if waiting for a strike to come from there, even though things had been quiet for years. He'd followed the progress of the Power Rangers, saw that they'd been going from city to city these days, not sticking around one place.

And that was great, in a way.

Angel Grove had, what, five straight years of being attacked?

Long enough that the affects would be felt for generations to come. And yet, to Jason, it was still one of the best places to live. When he was younger, he thought he'd go out and change the world. Make the Earth a better place. He went to a Peace Conference that talked about what they could do, in the future, to cut down on what was done in the past. He went to school to become a paramedic. He volunteered in every place he could.

But Angel Grove still called him home. And it was a life he enjoyed living. A life that would make sense for people who had gone through what he'd done as a teen. The scars were still there, the pain of losing so many friends, the pain of having it all move on without him. It was still there. But not as bad as it had been.

The fact that the Power Ranger Day was still going on was a good sign of that. No matter how many detractors there were. He understood it. Heard the different views on it every day at work. With some of his coworkers who had family members who passed during random attacks and sudden evacuation orders. And then there were the doctors who had seen the injuries of those that came in and kept fighting, and saw that the Power Rangers had helped the city.

Jason steered clear of the conversation because he understood both sides as a paramedic and as a ranger. As a ranger he worked hard to be a beacon of hope for all of Angel Grove, so the little guy would stand up and do everything they put their mind to. To come together as a city and protect themselves. But as a paramedic, he saw what happened with the city violence, saw what happened to those in horrible car accidents, saw what happened to the families that had to be told their loved ones didn't make it. Had nothing but sorrow for the ones he worked so hard on, to bring them back, and they still slipped through his fingers.

It just made him wonder, if he had to do it all again, would he do anything different?

Emily had asked him that once.

They were serious in their relationship, had lived together for about two years. Marriage may have been on the cards. But something had started to change. They'd been lying in bed, calming down after a night of love making—he was in love with her then—and she was gently stroking his chest, tracing her fingertips up and down his sternum when she asked quietly.

"If you could live your life again, would you do anything different?"

The question had made him pause. His eyebrows furrowed together before he rolled his head to face her. "What?"

"What?" she replied, blue eyes sparking innocently back at her.

"Nothing, but…" he rolled onto his side to face her. "That kind of came out of nowhere."

"I was just thinking about what you were telling me," Emily replied. Jason took in a deep breath. He'd finally bit the bullet and told her, recently, about his past as a Power Ranger. That he was the Gold Ranger and had, in fact, been the one to save her a few times. She took it in stride, found it to be amazing, actually, Rewarded him with nothing but her love for having had been there for her in ways she didn't know at the time. Now she was bringing it up again. "About all the things you did as a ranger. If you were able to go back and do it all again? Would you do it?" She looked him in the eye. "All of it?"

"Yeah," Jason replied without hesitation. "I'd do it again." There was no question about it. Being a ranger was fulfilling, but it wasn't the glory that fulfilled him. It was helping others without them knowing it was him.

Emily's eyebrows twitched for a moment. "Everything?"

He had no idea what she was getting at, but noticed the tone to her voice. The sudden change. He only nodded in response. Emily nodded back and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips before snuggling under his chin, holding him tightly. They didn't talk about it again after that, but something had changed between them that night.

Something that continued to steadily crack between them until the chasm between them was just too big and they needed to break things off. Jason threw himself into his work and volunteering after. Maybe as a way to punish himself. But it helped him get through things. Work through his problems.

But what could he do when his biggest problem was staring him in the face? When he'd stayed in Angel Grove and everyone else made it out into the world and were changing in their own way. Had he made his life too simple by staying where he'd always lived? Or was it that he had kept his head down so much, wanting to block out the responsibility it bore on him?

But as he stretched along the gym floor that day, he couldn't help but wonder what made it that they all grew apart? He, Kimberly, Billy, Zack, and Trini had bene best friends since they first met. A hard feat that was kept when school and changing social groups threatened to tear people apart. But they were still friends, even more so when they were rangers.

Then Billy's mother died, Trini went to visit her relatives in Vietnam, Kimberly had an accident and then worked for the Pan Globals, he lost his ranger powers, and Zack…went down a path that Jason had never expected. They all broke apart and it seemed that nothing would bring them back together.

Other than Power Ranger day.

It wasn't as different of any of the other Power Ranger days they'd had before. But it was so much more. This one was the 10th anniversary of his and his friends' appearance in Angel Grove. A Power Ranger day to remember. It would also be the first time he'd seen most of his friends—former friends—in the last couple of years.

It'd surprised him when he answered the ringing phone and heard, "Jase, is that you?"

Jason's eyebrows rose for a moment. Then he chuckled, realizing he recognized the Caller ID from where Tommy had told him where he'd be. Imagine Jason's surprise when, after the Forever Red mission, Tommy Oliver said he was going to start his first year of teaching soon. "Tommy, man. You forgot the sound of my voice, already?"

"I mean, we used to talk on the phone all the time, right?" Tommy agreed with a laugh, making Jason chuckle was well. "It's been a long time, man, how's it going? I didn't get you in the middle of a shift, did I?"

"I'm surprised you remembered," Jason shot back. "It wasn't too long ago where you couldn't remember what day it was let alone what anyone was doing." They laughed again. "I'm great, man. How 'bout you? The kids treating you alright?"

"Let's just say that I have a lot of appreciation for what Ms. Appleby did to help me."

Jason nodded. His voice turned soft as he asked, "You hear what happened to her?"

"Yeah, man. I couldn't believe it when I heard." Tommy cleared his throat. "How's she doing?"

"As well as can be expected. She runs the risk of having another stroke, but that's normal considering how big her first one had been." Jason cleared his throat, tightening his grasp around his cell phone. Silence had stretched between them for a moment. "I'm sorry, I know you didn't call to talk about that. What's going on?"

"I was just making sure you were going to the Power Ranger Day."

"How could I miss it? 10 years. I can't believe it's been that long."

"10 for you, maybe. 9 for me."

"The sentiments the same. We still went through a lot. All of us. It doesn't matter what team you were on. Or currently on." The side of Jason's mouth turned up. "Are those kids of yours driving you crazy yet? I don't mean your students, I mean your rangers. Are you feeling tired yet? You know, I could probably give you something for that."

"Screw you." Jason was sure Tommy wanted to say something stronger but was probably around his students, or the faculty, and couldn't say anything that wasn't professional. That was teetering on the edge for Tommy Oliver as it were. Jason couldn't quite remember ever hearing him curse. "But we'll see you there?"

"We?" Jason repeated.

"Yeah. The whole team's coming back. I've been calling around. There's a lot of us that's going to show."

Jason had stopped listening at that point. All the memories of being a ranger had flashed through his mind; the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything that'd happened afterwards. Things he'd have to relive and things that he wished he could keep in the shadows. More than likely, it'd all come to light once they were all together.

 _But what's worse?_ Jason thought in the present, leaning from left to right as he stretched his legs. _Acting as if nothing had changed or acting as if the past should be forgotten?_ He twisted his mouth to the side, working to figure out the best response. He wasn't ashamed of much. But his time soul searching, figuring things out between the time he'd lost his Gold Ranger Powers to when he met up with the rangers for the Forever Red Mission.

There was so much pain.

So much hatred.

All that he'd thought he'd left behind, but came fluttering back with that one phone call from an old friend.

"Hey, Scott, you going to sit there all day?" Jason looked up, grinning across the apparatus floor of Firehouse 42, where he'd been stationed for the previous two years. Grinned at Mark Calhoun, his PIC—Paramedic In Charge—who he'd been partnered with for just as long. He stood at the punching bag at the side of the apparatus floor, resting a gloved hand on it, the other pointing toward Jason. "Or are you going to show me something?"

Jason easily moved back to his feet, tucking his legs beneath him before standing. He'd thought of doing a kip-up to prove a point, but decided against it. But the thought made him smile a bit more, memories of his martial arts training in his classes and with his friends flooding his mind. Tommy had been one of the only ones who could keep up with him, maybe even was better. Who knew for sure?

Their matches always ended in a stalemate.

"Sorry, are you asking me to kick your ass?" Jason asked, sauntering over.

Calhoun tipped his head, cocking his eyebrows, as he licked his lip. "There's more than life than proving that you're stronger than me, Scott. We already know it, anyway. How many times did you get Kos in the AGF/AGPD boxing match? Five times?"

"Yeah, yeah." Jason waved off the praise. There was the answer to that question. He motioned toward the punching bag. "You just have to work on your form a bit more. You can lift weights like no one's business, your form is great there. But you're weak at the punch." Jason mimed what was supposed to be done, twisting his arm and wrist as he did so. "Don't let yourself break your thumb. The way the movies show it, TV shows…you'd break all the bones in your fingers. And when you strike…"

Jason made a show of doing a flurry of quick punches, driving all his energy toward the center of the bag and through it. Shouted out a few kiais that grabbed the attention of the Squad and Engine members hanging around the apparatus floor, cleaning off the trucks and shooting the breeze. Jason's voice echoed.

He waited for it to subside before moving back into a casual stance. He grinned, grasping the bag as it barely moved, putting it back into place. "And act as if you're trying to punch _through_ it, rather than punch it. You want to move its energy."

Calhoun's upper lip curled. "You're not going to start talking about energy healing and auras and that shit are you?" He asked.

Jason grinned along the laughter that burst around him. He clapped his hand against Calhoun's back, shaking his head. "That'd cost you extra." He thought for a moment. "And a free shift when I need it covered. No questions asked."

"Come on. Does that sound like something I really need in my life right now?" Calhoun turned and stared to punch the punching bag the same way that Jason had showed him before. He struck it a few times before reaching out to stop the bag himself. "I'm sure my aura is as black as the night sky. It wouldn't do much anyway."

"Gallows humor for you," Jason agreed. He looked up as the alarm system went off, detailing what the emergency was and what companies were being called. His adrenaline spiked as he heard his ambulance number being called. "Let's roll."

"Isn't that my line?" Calhoun hefted off his boxing gloves, following Jason to their ambulance where he hopped into the driver's seat and took off into the streets of Angel Grove with the alarms blaring.

Jason buckled himself in and took a deep breath, steadied himself with a meditating, calming breath. The way he always did when he was about to run out into a putty filled battle, waiting for whatever monster was going to come attack them that time.

This time, however, the monster was his past.

And it was coming up full tilt.

* * *

 **A/N:** And now Jason! All of the rangers will have their time in the limelight as the story goes on, but this story is primarily focused on Tommy and Billy. Thanks, guys, for continuing to stick around as there are long waits between my updates! (And sorry each chapter so far has been pretty short, they're going to get longer).

I contemplated having Jason and Emily still together (and probably will still go that route) by the time Jason met up with his friends again, since I don't, necessarily, want them all to be single. But we'll see what happens as things go on.

I'm coming back, y'all! I'm so excited! Also, it's incredibly sad that I still have this word doc titled 'Insert Title Here' lol.

~ **Av**


	4. Chapter 4

Tommy was starting to think having his current team of rangers come along with him to Angel Grove was a bad idea. Not just because they were all ganging up on him to try and talk him out of seriously giving them homework, but because of how many questions they were asking on the six hour drive down to Angel Grove.

 _"What was the best monster you've ever gone against?"_

 _"What was the worst?"_

 _"Were you really a red ranger?"_

 _"How did you switch colors?"_

 _"What were the other rangers like?"_

It was the last question that had stumped him. Not in a bad way, it had brought back a lot of memories he had of the team… _teams_ he worked with. And, maybe, that was the problem, that there had been so many teams he worked with. There was the original team, and then there were substitutions for those that had been on his team. But he had to be a leader and make sure that he was the leader for every faction of ranger that came through until he retired.

But, and he hated to even think of it, it was hard to have to start over every time. It was hard to look over and see the pink ranger and know it was Kat, but not Kim. It was hard to look over at the red ranger and see it was Rocky and not Jason. It was hard to go out into the field and not have Billy helping them figure things out in the moment rather than being back in the Command Center and in his ear.

It was even harder to know that everyone else had moved on while he was still working as a ranger. As if it was a part of him that he could never give up. And it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, the drive to help people had always been something that pushed Tommy forward. And his work at becoming a teacher had been the start of that life for him.

The start of the life of moving on. He'd put the Forever Red mission behind him and focused solely on the rest of his schoolwork, hunkering down to finish the tests, the papers, the presentations, _his thesis,_ to get his degree and be able to give back in a way that Ms. Appleby had given to him.

But the _idea_ of it was always better than having to live through the constant question, constant talking, and Kira's constant singing in the backseat.

"Would you _please_ stop?" Ethan asked, hands shaking as he brought his hands up to rub at his temples. Kira abruptly cut off her singing and glared back at him. "You've been singing for hours and I can't take it anymore."

 _Thank you,_ Tommy thought. He looked at Kira, Ethan, and Trent as they sat in the backseat, all working to keep from driving each other crazy. Trent constantly shifted back and forth in his seat, trying to get the best angle to work on whatever he was sketching that day. Ethan had his elbows up and all over the place as he played on his portable…game thing. Tommy wasn't so into what teenagers were doing to figure that out. And Kira did nothing but sing…and sing…and sing.

The only person who _wasn't_ really getting on his nerves was Connor and that was because he was asking enough question about power rangers that'd, at least, keep him from wanting to kill all of them.

"Uh, hello? I have to practice," Kira replied. She shook her head, looking out the window. _Tried_ to look out the window, she was squeezed in-between Ethan and Trent. "It's not every day you get asked to perform for a crowd as big as this one."

"Yeah, Kira, we get it," Connor droned with a roll of his eyes. "We hard you say that, like, a thousand times by now. Give it a rest."

Kira scowled at him. "Well, excuse _me_ for wanting to talk about anything _but_ Dr. O's past as a ranger. We all saw the history video; we know what he's done."

"But we're able to talk to someone who's lived through it," Connor pointed out. He twisted in his seat so he could look at her incredulously. "I mean, he's been a part of the Power Rangers dynasty for _years_ —"

"—Okay, let's not bring my age into this," Tommy quickly cut Connor off, knowing it was only a matter of time until he managed to say something else that was insulting. Whether Conner knew it or not. "Yeah, I've been a ranger for a long time, but there are more rangers than just me. Some more powerful. Some much better than I could ever be."

"I seriously doubt that," Connor replied.

"You clearly haven't met my friends."

Without them, he wouldn't have been as good a ranger as he ended up being. Jason was the one who taught him how to lead the way. Kimberly showed him what it meant to care for someone other than himself—something that he'd done a lot when having moved around a lot. Trini taught him patience. Billy taught him wisdom. Zack taught him how to have fun with every situation that came their way.

But then there was Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Kat, Tanya, and the ones that took on the mantle after they'd left…TJ, Cassie, Carlos, Ashley, and then the other red rangers, Andros, Wes, Eric, Cole…

The Power Rangers weren't just the one team in action, but a whole faction of people who continued to pass things down to the newer generation. There was always going to be someone better before and after him.

"Good thing we're going to meet them today, then, right?" Connor asked, settling back into his seat and flashed Tommy a wide smile.

 _I should've left them at home._ Tommy's grasp on the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles turning white as the seconds passed. He looked at his knuckles, studied the pattering that moved away from the red. An interesting look at his own life as a ranger, where, as time went on, he moved from being a white ranger to being red, in two different factions of being a Power Ranger. He'd be worried if his fingers had started to turn black, he was holding onto the steering wheel so tightly.

But the one thing that kept him sane throughout the whole ride was how quiet Trent was being in comparison to the rest of the rangers. Connor, Kira, and Ethan continued to talk and continually bicker at each other as the minutes passed. And yet, Trent continued to stay in his world of art.

If Tommy had any favorite students, Trent was moving to the forefront of that list.

* * *

Billy looked at his father in wonder, seeing everything he'd missed in the past few years just by looking at his face. Looking at the lines that had appeared in the sides of David's mouth and in the corners of his eyes. It seemed that he'd grown many years in the few that Billy had been gone.

Who was he kidding? A few? He hadn't been back to Angel Grove in ten years. He'd made sure to speak to his father regularly, but something was different between them. Things had always been different, ever since his mother's death. There was always something going on. What excuses did he need to have to keep himself away from the city he grew up to know as home?

Did he even consider it much of home anymore? Billy sighed quietly, rapping his knuckles against the countertop, taking his eyes away from his father to the rest of the house. To the house that was still so familiar, truly nothing in it had changed over the last ten years, but he was unsure if it even felt like a home to him anymore. He was pleasantly surprised to find his garage lab was still there, untouched. The same way he'd remembered leaving it.

Nothing else had changed, and ye his father was the one who had changed the most. Intuitively, Billy knew how old his father was, but the way his father looked, aged him up an even ten more years. But it really was him, the way he smiled at his son while standing across from the kitchen was evident enough.

"I bet it's like stepping into the past," David Cranston remarked with a half-smile. He reached up, rubbing nervously at his neck. "I haven't really gotten much done but I do have some projects in the works."

"It's fine, dad," Billy replied. How long had his father been saying he'd had projects he was working on? About every time, for the last ten years, that Billy would call him to catch up. "It's actually really…refreshing to know things haven't changed." Billy was relieved to find he wasn't lying when the words spilled from his mouth. It _was_ relieving to know things in his house hadn't changed. Massachusetts, Cambridge especially, was a different world than Angel Grove, California.

And while it'd become a sort of home for Billy, he still felt like a fish out of water. Still felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Still waited for the day that a monster decided it was going to take its giant foot and stomp all over the historical buildings and landmarks that everyone knew from sight.

"But how have you been?" Billy asked, quickly changing the subject from what he knew was going to be dangerous territory. "How're things at the university?"

"Great!" David replied. He continued to rub his neck. Billy's eyes watched his movements, blonde brows crinkling as he did so. "Things are going well, actually. There're a lot more projects and research I've been working on now. I've been looking much more into paleontology, especially in the ways they've been able to connect with the powers of the Power Rangers."

Billy gave him a sharp look.

David stopped rubbing his neck and held his hand up toward his son, almost able to read his mind. "I'm not doing an exact comparison to the Power Rangers. I know how important it was for you to keep your identity a secret."

"Well, that went out the window the moment the Astro Rangers decided to reveal themselves, don't you think?" Billy couldn't help but notice the bitterness that came to his tone. He managed to give his dad a reassuring smile, making him chuckle. "And, you know no one can trace it back to us. I mean, do you realize how long it took for Bulk and Skull to find out?"

David laughed loudly. "Well, they haven't always been the brightest bulbs in the lamp," he pointed out. Billy nodded, agreeing with his statement. "Do you know how long it took for us parents to realize that our kids were the Power Rangers?"

Billy's eyebrows rose in question. He had always been curious about that. If they had truly known but had been unable to bring himself to ask his parents. Intuitively, he knew his parents knew. There was no way he would have had inherited their intelligence and them not find out.

David noticed his son's interest and said, "There were a few things that tipped us off fairly early. There were some bruises you had that couldn't be explained. Then there was the sort of confidence you got as the days passed. You started to bulk up…that part wasn't so strange, Jason had been teaching your martial arts and that was bound to happen. But you spent more and more time with your friends, you became more and more secretive…you spent more time in your garage lab." David folded his arms once more, leveled his gaze on his son. "And then there were times where it sounded like you were talking to yourself, whispering to yourself about some…things you were working on. But when I asked you, you evaded all my questions."

"Oh." Billy nodded. He must've been talking to Zordon and Alpha about some things. He would clam up after because he didn't want his parents to know. Especially didn't want his father to know after his mother's death. "And all that made it so that you were able to figure out that I was a Power Ranger?"

"There was a lot more than that, but those were the most important things," David admitted. Then he smiled. "Let alone the fact I could never find you whenever an evacuation order came through, or that a monster suddenly appeared. But as soon as the Power Rangers were gone, you popped up again."

"I guess we weren't as careful as we thought," Billy said.

"No, I guess not." David gestured vaguely with his hand. "And I guess Power Ranger Day is going to bring you all back together. Has it been as long, that you haven't seen them? All your friends?"

"Yeah, just about..." Billy placed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. His fingers twitched at the movement. He bit his lower lip, suddenly having the urge to push his glasses up his nose. Of which he hadn't worn in years. Not since having switched over to contacts. Things really did change. Had it been it been ten years since he'd seen his friends? Contacted them? "It'll be a trip…seeing them again." He smiled. "Should be a lot of fun."

"Well, if it's anything like the high school reunions I'd been going to, then it might be boring," David warned him. He tipped his head. "Then again, considering this is all for the Power Rangers and its an entire _day_ of things…it might be more fun." David paused for a moment, gently licked his lips. "Have you ever thought about revealing yourself?"

Billy lifted an eyebrow. "You mean letting Angel Grove know about us being Power Rangers?" Though he knew exactly what his father was getting at. "Letting people know my identity, like the Astro Rangers did?" David nodded. "I've thought of it."

"But you've managed to keep it a secret all this time."

"Before, if we were to tell anyone about our powers, then we would've lost them," Billy explained. "We would have immediately lost our powers, access to the Command Center, to the Morphing grid…and it would've put all of you in danger." He swallowed hard, turning away from his father's gaze. "Not that it mattered much in the long run."

"Your mom doesn't blame you for this, Billy," David reminded his son. Reminded him so quickly that he may as well have been able to read Billy's mind. "You know she doesn't and would never blame you for what's happened to her." Billy nodded. "And I know you still do. Is that why you stayed away from Angel Grove for so long? Why you went on your travels? Went up to space?"

"How'd you know about that?" Billy asked, hoping the change in subject wouldn't bring his father back to the topic he was trying to avoid.

"General Norquist," David replied. He gave his son a funny look. "You do realize that there isn't much that can be done in Angel Grove in terms of the sciences and technology that wouldn't eventually intercede, right?" Billy nodded in agreement. "And, as it was, General Norquist came to see me when you hadn't returned to Earth when they expected you to. Customary, I assume, in case something had gone wrong. So, how _was_ Aquitar?"

"It was an interesting place," Billy explained. "It took a little while to get used to, especially with my physiological makeup compared to theirs."

"Aquitar has more water than any other planet that we've even thought of exploring in the universe," Billy explained. "And there have been many other planets that've been found since then, Mirinoi…and the KO-35 galaxy…but Aquitar is one of the most interesting." Billy ran a hand through his hair. "The hardest thing to get used to was the way the Aquitarians talked. After a while, I started to wonder if my voice changed as well." He laughed to himself, then realized something his father mentioned. "You said you were improving on your projects with paleontology. What have you found out? What brought General Norquist into things?"

"He was aware of what I was doing with my work, had been following them, and wanted to talk to me about it."

"What have you found lately?"

"Hopefully, enough that will get me tenure." David couldn't help the sparkle of life that came to his eyes. It was the first time Billy had remembered seeing it in a long time. "I'm taking some of my students on a dig soon. There's a lot of advancements that we've been researching and there's only so much more than we can discover." He tipped his head. "Maybe a new species of dinosaur you can use for a ranger team."

"Ha ha." Billy rolled his eyes.

"I thought you'd find that funny."

"Well, that's one thing mom and I had in common," Billy remarked. He walked to his dad and patted him on the shoulder. "We never found your jokes funny." He turned to his father. "It's good to see you, dad."

"It's always good to see you, Billy," David agreed. Then he waved him off. "I'll let you continue to explore the exhibit of things that haven't changed and let you get ready to meet up with your friends. You _are_ going out with them for drinks, aren't you?"

Billy blinked at his father in surprise. "How'd you know about that?"

"Tommy called here first, to see if I had the number to your office," David explained. He leveled his gaze at his son. Thought for a moment, then said, "Billy…is it your friends that you don't want to see? Or are you trying to avoid—"

"—I'll see you later," Billy broke in. Before he could ask the single question that he knew he'd be bombarded with from everyone…if certain people showed up to the bar, to Power Ranger Day. It was only a matter of time until he had to face things…but the longer he could go to plan, the better.

It was like an experiment in that way.

He had to do a series of tests before he had a successful outcome.

And he wouldn't know how successful or unsuccessful he'd be until he was out to see for himself. Everything else before then was just a test. But if he reacted to every test by avoiding it, then there was no chance of there being a successful outcome.

He clearly wasn't ready.

Maybe going back to Angel Grove was a mistake.

"Hey, Dad?" Billy grasped his father's attention before leaving the room. His father looked at him curiously. "It's really good to see you."

* * *

 **A/N:** Finally, all the rangers are going to see each other in the next chapter! Or, at least, most of them. I don't know if all them will appear because that will be a _lot_ of people to handle all at once.

Dragon Bone Z; you'll find out what happened with Zack in the next chapter.

~ **Av**


	5. Chapter 5

Kimberly twirled a whistle around her fingers as she listened to the rhythmic pounding of footsteps racing across the spring floors of the gym. She watched the girls and boys, counted their footsteps before they flipped over, into a series of front flips before doing a front tuck and landed straight on their feet.

They moved out of the way for the next wave of gymnast to take their path across the floor. Again and again. All as they did their best to stay uniform as they went across. Kimberly tilted her head to the side, watching as they went. Watched each of their hand and foot placements as the seconds passed. Watched as they moved to get to the back of the line, all steadying themselves, kept their hands pressed to the sides of their thighs as they waited to move again.

Their faces red, sweaty, hair askew as they waited. Side-eying the gold medalist of the Pan Global Games, hoping to impress her. A small smile came to her face when she noticed it. She gave them a few more passes across the floor of the gym then raised the whistle to her lips, blowing a sharp blast into it. All movement stopped and eyes turned toward her, patient, waiting. Red, trying to catch their breaths but not let it show how much it had affected her.

"Alright you guys, that's enough for today!" She called, her voice loud and booming across the gym. "Make sure you get plenty of rest before the big day tomorrow." She smiled, clasping her hands behind her back. "You know what day it is tomorrow, right?"

"Power Ranger Day!" Came the unanimous, excited reply.

A light giggle escaped her lips. She planted her hands on her hips and asked, "Are you all going to dress up tomorrow? You sound like you're really excited." She laughed, hearing the shouts and cheers of all the different power ranger forms that the kids were going to dress up as. It even surprised her, hearing that there was going to be some dressed up in the Metallic armor; they hadn't had the power up as long as the regular power and the ninja ranger power.

At least, that's what Kat had told her. It must have been something that made some sort of an impression, however, if there were at least five little boys shouting that they were going to dress up as the white ranger in metal armor. She wondered how many stories they'd been told about the power rangers and what they'd done for Angel Grove; this class was much too young to have been around when even the Astro Rangers had revealed themselves.

"Well, if I see you around, please stop and say 'hi' alright? Class dismissed. Get home safely." She waved to the students, laughing as a few raced up to her and flung their arms around her waist to say goodbye. Then she made sure that everything within the gym was cleaned up, that no one was leaving a towel or water bottle behind. After ensuring that all the parents picked up their children, she went back and told the cleaners what she expected of them, especially if they were going to have visitors the next day and went to her office to finish up her work.

 _Bills, bills, and more bills._ Kimberly sorted through them with a light sigh. She wasn't short on money; her business plan had worked out well. But it was difficult to bring things back to the way they'd been when she was the one who had to deal with the small class sizes. _Angel Grove's population isn't what it used to be._ She was able to fill her classes, but there wasn't much that she could do in terms of charging. Gymnastics classes for all ages were expensive, but too much and there wouldn't be any interest. Too little and…

Shaking her head, Kimberly leaned back in her seat and briefly closed her eyes. Willed herself not to worry about it so much. She knew things would be difficult, had talked about it at length with her mother and stepfather when they gave her some money to start up the gym. But the choice to do it in Angel Grove was her choice and her choice only.

She could've done it in Angel Grove, would've had the best gym she could've used at her disposal. And yet, there was nothing there that would've made her happy. Her life was in Florida, she'd put California in her past. But something had drawn her to Angel Grove, drawn her back to where she had lived out what were, arguably, the best yeas of her life. Something that pulled her enough to run a few classes out of the gym while she was in Angel Grove.

 _It's a different feeling entirely,_ Kimberly reminded herself. She opened her eyes and gasped loudly, pressing a hand to her chest when she noticed the presence of the person standing in front of her, staring. At first, Kimberly didn't recognize him, not until the familiar, and unmatched smile wormed its way onto his face when he started laughing.

"Geez, Kim, didn't you learn how to sense other people's presence through all that ninja training I heard about?" He folded his arms, biceps bulging as he did so. Kimberly could see the tattoos that lined his arms. "Maybe you should've just left things to the originals."

"Ha ha." Kimberly finally regained her composure. She stood and went around the desk to greet him. "Very funny, Zack." She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, come on, what kind of hug is that?" Zack wrapped his arms around Kimberly waist and lifted her off the ground, making her squeal in surprise when he did so. He rocked her back and froth then sets her back on the ground. "I don't believe it. You look the same as you did before!" He reached out and pressed a hand to the top of her head. "Still as short as ever."

"And you look so different." Kimberly stepped back and looked over Zack. He'd grown a little taller. And, despite the muscles and visible hardness that he'd managed to put on over the years, his jovial, bright smile was still the same. Nevertheless, Kimberly couldn't help but notice the tattoos that lined his arms.

Prison tattoos.

She recognized them as such, the guys that cleaned her gym in Florida had pasts in prison as well. It had been one of the few jobs they could get, they explained in her interviews. It worried her at first, taking on people who were felons, but they worked harder than anyone else she'd ever hired and did a damn good job at making sure things were clean.

Still, Kimberly couldn't help but feel nothing short of sadness, realizing what'd happened to Zack. He noticed her look and shook his head. "Uh-uh, don't be getting sad on me right now. This is a momentous occasion; I haven't seen the outside world in a few years and now one of my best friends is right before me for a Power Ranger Day?" He folded his arms once more. "I hadn't been able to experience it before, maybe you can help me out."

Kimberly shook her head. "What makes you think I can help? I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't been in Angel Grove in a long time."

"Then we can have a trip down memory lane together." Zack held out his arm for Kimberly to take. She smiled, grabbed her purse, and looped her arm through the former black rangers. "But if I'm not mistaken, I saw you on TV once when you were smiling all pretty for the cameras for that talk show."

"That was something different."

"Yeah, yeah, Miss. Popularity."

Kimberly laughed to herself, allowing Zack to pull her out of the gym and down the street. As they went, everywhere they looked, there was something being done to be ready for the celebration the next day. There were posters and banners being hung in shop windows and over streetlights, flowers of the ranger colors were being prepared in window boxes, and then there were the color-coded confections from the bakery.

Nothing was being done halfway for the celebration.

Kimberly felt equal parts of embarrassment and pride. Embarrassment for all the attention that was being brought upon them—even if they residents didn't _know_ it was them. But also pride for how much of an impression they made on the city if their reign to help the city had ended and they were still being heralded for what they'd done.

Zack, on the other hand, had a light sense of detachment to it. Despite the smile that was on his face, Kimberly could feel his grasp on her arm tighten as the seconds passed, every time they saw something new that was being put up. But she didn't dare complain. She wasn't a weenie, for one, and for two, she knew it had to be even a little bit painful for him. Part of her always wondered what he was feeling once he had left the time.

 _Not that he had any choice,_ Kimberly reminded herself. _When you lose your powers, you lose your powers. There's nothing you can do to bring it back._

She looked up to Zack once more, glad for their height difference. She was able to study the side of his face, watch as his eyes darted around to face the past he once was a willing participant in. Watched as he reached up and ran his hand over his mouth, scratching at the patch of hair that was his beard, his fingers making a quiet _scritch_ sound as he did so.

There was more to life than being a Power Ranger, but you never really understood that until you weren't one anymore. Where you didn't have that crushing pressure of responsibility on your shoulders. Where you could live normally and have a chance at a future you weren't sure—or even feared—would be cut down too soon. They'd heard of it happening before but, luckily, she hadn't been the one to experience it.

She'd only felt the pain that was having to leave that life behind. Almost as if dying and starting over again. But she was able to see her part of things work out, to end on her terms. Zack hadn't. And, as Kimberly could see, it still gave him more pain than he thought it would.

Reaching up with her other hand, Kimberly placed it on top of Zack's, patting it gently.

"Something tells me that you're ready to go to the bar," Kimberly remarked.

Zack smiled in response.

* * *

Trini pushed her bottle of beer aside, tucking her hands in her lap as she crossed her legs at the knee. She glanced down at the scar drawn across her kneecap and crossed her legs over the knee. Lifting her gaze, she placed it on the basketball game airing on the TV above the bar. It wasn't as crowded as she expected, but, then again, there was the chance that Tommy had used his name to ensure that they were able to have a little bit of a party of themselves. Or, maybe, someone else had become more well-known than they'd expected.

 _Kim would've been one of them,_ Trini thought. She always had a way with people, was always charismatic and popular. She had more gymnastics skill in her pinkie than anyone Trini'd ever known. And she could sing and play guitar. There was always a chance Kimberly would be the one to have the most fame and notoriety that'd come their way. _Then again, there's always the chance it could've been Jason._ Trini almost laughed out loud, the idea of Jason being so out in the open was more than funny.

He was outgoing, but he hated to be the center of attention. Not quite shy but…

A bag was dropped to the floor before someone dropped into the seat across from her. She shook her long hair from her face, studied Trini for a second, and said, "Never thought I'd ever see you drinking a beer, Sunny."

Trini grinned back at Avalon Mitchell. "Are my cheeks turning red already?"

Avalon's eyebrows rose in amusement. "Is Asian glow actually a thing? Reckon I thought it was a myth."

"No, it's very real." Trini laughed quietly. She brushed her bangs back from her face. "You should've seen how much wine they drink in Vietnam. My relatives certainly aren't the ones who'll let a good time go by without allowing us to have some sort of wine to go with it."

"But beer?"

"I did grow up here, in California." Avalon laughed at that, a loud, throaty laugh that Trini hadn't heard in a long time. Or, if she were being honest, ever. When they were younger, she didn't laugh much. And when she did, it sounded like the most stifling, laugh. Let alone the fact that it never reached her eyes. Like her mirth was that time around. "How've you been Av?" She expected for the young woman to snap back with a quick, "Don't call me 'Av'" even if it was for old time's sake.

But, if anything, she did the next best thing, and smirked in response. It made Trini smile. "I've been really good, actually," she replied. She shrugged. "Best I've felt in a long time. But you probably already knew that."

Trini shrugged modestly. "I could sense the aura around you was different," she admitted. "I didn't want to come out and say it until I heard it from you."

"Then you probably know about the rest of it, too." Avalon shook her head, noticing Trini simply shrugged and leaned back in her seat, otherwise not responding. "It's not like it's a secret, Trini. Everyone should know by now. It's been out in the news and everything…it was the biggest case that'd ever come through Ange Grove, wasn't it?"

"But there's more to it than that," Trini reminded her. "But we're not here to talk about that. We're here for Power Ranger day." She laughed, noticing the way Avalon rolled her eyes. "I knew you wouldn't be too happy with the name. I was most excited to come back and see you. To know if you've changed. Thankfully, you haven't changed too much."

"I'm glad you haven't changed either."

"What about Bay? The last time I saw her, she was only—"

Avalon pointed at Trini. "If you say, 'this big', I'm instructed, by her, to hit you." Trini laughed again with Avalon joining her. "Bay is as insufferable as she's ever been. But she's doing well, much better than I ever was when we were in high school. She's got some friends that she thinks the world of. They're back at the hotel with Tommy, and there's more than enough trouble this lot can get in there. If Tommy hasn't driven them all off a cliff on the way."

Trini's eyebrows came together. "You didn't come at the same time?"

"Us and Tommy?" Avalon's eyebrows rose. "No, we were visiting our parents." She shrugged once more. "Seemed like a good time after what happened with Mr. and Mrs. Oliver…" she trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck. Trini nodded serenely in response. She'd already given her respects to Tommy's family, and had been there for Tommy when he had, for a short time, lost his way and looked for some sort of solace. "I see you cut your hair."

"Oh, yeah." Trini reached up, rubbing her hand over the bob she was sporting with long points that framed her face. "It was a nice change. Different, but nice. I was doing a lot of soul searching out in Vietnam, before and after the Peace Conference, and one of the things that really stuck with me was my link towards material possessions, vanity…" She shook her head. "There's so much that we take for granted and there was nothing there holding me back."

"Holding you back?" Avalon snorted. "It's life, Sunny, not a bloody Lifetime movie." Grinning, she rested her chin in her hand. "The only thing that could ever hold you back was—" she broke off, seeing the glare Trini sent her way. No matter how much time passed, there were some things that you didn't joke about. _Or, you still couldn't take as a joke,_ Trini reminded herself. "Are you going to finish that?" She pointed toward the glass tumbler.

Trini waved her hand, allowing Avalon to grab the bottle and bring it up to her lips. But she didn't get a chance to drink it for a large slap on her back that sent her jerking forward, nearly spilling the beer all over the table. Trini laughed, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth before a loud squeal reached her ears. Trini's laughter cut short and a squeal exited her mouth when she spotted Kimberly hurrying toward her. Ignoring Zack's leaping out of the way to stand behind Avalon, Trini grasped the former pink ranger in her arms and the two rocked back and forth as they hugged.

"Oh, I've missed you," Kimberly declared.

"I missed you, too," Trini replied, still holding her.

"You cut your hair!"

"So did you!"

"You look great!"

"So do you!"

Trini finally backed away, then leaned in and hugged Kimberly once more, then turned to Zack, giving him a hug in greeting. She squeezed him tightly and stood back, placing her hands on his cheeks, studying him carefully. "Have you been eating well? You look really thin."

"Now I know you've been spending a lot of time with your family," Zack laughed. "You're sounding a lot like my mom."

"She must be excited to see you—ugh!" Avalon cried out as she was then taken down by Kimberly's incredibly forceful hug. Nevertheless, she reached up and wrapped her arms around Kimberly as well, smiling widely as they hugged. "Kim, I don't know about you, but I do like the idea of _breathing_ , yeah?"

"If you ever need CPR, I know someone who can help you," Jason said as he walked over, grinning. The sound coming from their corner of the bar rose once more as they were joined by their former leader, and once more when Tommy arrived.

Trini glanced at Kimberly when Tommy joined the group, quietly sitting in a set along with them, pushing his glasses up his nose. She always wondered how things would go between them once they were reunited. Kimberly had told her everything about the letter that she'd written to him, and had called a few times afterwards, asking if she'd done the right thing. And now as they sat across the table from each other, Trini wasn't sure if she had.

They'd greeted each other stiffly when he came in, but after that seemed to be purposefully ignoring each other, listening intently to Trini's explanation as to what he'd been up to since leaving Angel Grove. She had been the first one to leave and had gone the furthest away. (If not including the times that Avalon and Bailey had gone back to Australia). Even their greeting to each other was awkward; they hovered around each other, leaning in and out, unsure of whether they should hug or not.

Thankfully, with a shit-eating grin, Avalon had suggested that they just sit down and enjoy each other's company before pointedly asking Trini about Vietnam. Though, as she spoke, Trini couldn't help but allow her gaze to shift toward the door every few minutes. Stomach twisting and turning with anticipation each time someone came into the bar, growing the crowd that increased as the minutes passed.

 _It's only just dusk, he still has time to show,_ Trini reminded herself. She was into her story of the daily customs that she had grown used to, when she heard the bell ringing over the door once more. Despite not being able to see through the crowd, Trini could tell he was there. Going up to the bar to order himself something that would calm his nerves to some extent. Finally, she spotted him coming closer and felt her excitement rise.

As it should with finally seeing a friend, she hadn't seen in ten years.

"And, of course, I've now gotten to the age where my parents are really starting to get on my case about getting married," Trini said with a fond laugh. "I can't even tell you how many people they'd arranged for me to meet while I was with my family. I'm not sure what the statistics are on arranged marriages but,"—she pointed with her chin— "I'm sure Billy could tell you."

All heads turned his way, with wildly different expressions attached to them.

Billy smiled awkwardly, lifting a hand to wave at his former teammates.

His former friends.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, I almost never write any PR stories that don't have Avalon and Bailey in it, and this is one of the ones that do have them. (Obviously). So, if you're turned off it and just wanted to read a fic with the older rangers showing back up, then that's fine. Thank you for at least reading this far. If you're still around, thanks! There are other, random OCs that'll show up (because not every ranger will end up with a ranger) so it may have turned some people off anyway. Either way, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll update again soon.

Next chapter, things really start to pick up even more.

~ **Av**


	6. Chapter 6

"I can't believe that they're all going to meet up—with past rangers—and we're stuck here in a hotel!" Conner cried. He threw his hands into the air and dropped back onto the bed with a heavy sigh. He fell so fast that the bed springs bounced back, threatening to drop him to the floor. It'd be just his luck. "Why does life hate me so much? Why don't we get to do anything cool?"

"You could always do your homework," Ethan commented from the other side of the hotel room. He peered at Conner over his shoulder and added, "Dr. O was already getting on your about it on the way up. Don't you even want to _try_ getting started?"

Conner turned and glared at him. "Does it _look_ like I even want to _think_ about homework right now?"

"You don't even seem to think about anything on a good day," Ethan shot back. He shook his head, turning his attention back to his own homework. "It makes me wonder how you managed to tie your shoes in the morning." He looked over at Conner then made a show of leaning back in his seat to look at Conner's shoes. "I mean, you _do_ have laces, right? You're not wearing Velcro."

"There's nothing wrong with Velcro!" Conner shook his head. "Not that there's anything wrong with people wearing Velcro shoes, it's just not cool for someone like _me_ to wear it." He sat up, pressing his hands into the mattress behind him as he did so. "Anyway, man, I can't believe we're in the home of where the first Power Rangers started, and you're just sitting there doing your homework!"

"We're going to meet them tomorrow, dude," Ethan reminded him. "It's just one more day. I think you can wait. You waited longer for _Alien Slime Attack_ to come out in theaters." He shook his head. "And it wasn't even that good of a movie."

"Yeah, you got me there," Conner agreed. He took in a deep breath and continued to stare at the ceiling. For the next few minutes, he stared at the ceiling, counting as many of the little 'popcorn dots' that seemed to have been haphazardly placed. _Why did anyone think that was a good idea, anyway?_ He asked himself. After a few more moments of silence, his mind quickly shuttled over to the rest of the ranger team.

Trent was probably sitting in his room. (That he was lucky to get by himself—Dr. O had quickly explained he was going to have his own room as a chaperone and Trent needed his privacy to handle with Lupus). And Kira had probably met up with Bailey by that point. If Bailey hadn't found a way to sneak to the bar and hang out with her former friends. Conner sighed. "What do you think the girls are doing right now?"

"Okay!" Ethan slapped his hands down onto his notebook. "Clearly you're not going to leave me alone! I'll just finish my homework later."

"You're such a computer geek, I'm surprised you didn't have it done before now," Conner pointed out.

"I would've if you hadn't been bugging me so much," Ethan mumbled under his breath.

Conner ignored his comment. Instead, he bounced up from his bed, glad that he'd been able to convert someone into wanting to hang out with him, rather than doing everything they were always told to do. He rubbed his hands together. "Alright, what are we going to do first?"

''First, I think we should get the girls and Trent," Ethan remarked. "Otherwise, I won't have as many people on my side when I try to tell Dr. O that none of this was my idea and that I was just an innocent bystander."

"Yeah, yeah." Conner waved his hand. He picked up the key to the hotel room and left along with Ethan. He walked to the girls' room and knocked on the door. "There's more than enough time for you to come up with an excuse as to why you're the one who shouldn't be blamed for everything that happened. Blah, blah, blah. You really have to learn how to live on the wild side."

"I think being a ranger already takes care of that part of my life, okay," Conner replied. "And you haven't lived until you've been a part of a LAN party."

"I'll take your word for it." Conner looked back at the door and knocked again. "What's taking the girls so long to answer the door?" He kept knocking until it opened but didn't stop in enough time—making him drum his knuckles on Kira's forehead.

"Ow!" Kira reached up and rubbed the middle of her forehead. "Watch it, Conner!"

"I think he was, mate," Bailey remarked, coming up behind her. "He just never knows when to stop." She chuckled to herself, watching the sheepish smile that spread across Conner's face. "So, it took you lot less time than I thought to come to our room."

"Yeah, to what do we owe this pleasure?" Kira grumbled. She removed her hand from her forehead, the spot in the middle of her eyebrows continuing to redden as the seconds passed. "I was in the middle of a good writing flow."

"Yeah, so, we were thinking of doing something more fun than that," Conner replied.

Kira looked at him skeptically, then leaned over to look at Ethan, over Conner's shoulder. "I promise it's nothing illegal or stupid. Or else I wouldn't be standing at your door like this." He folded his arms. "I wanted to be doing my homework."

"No offense, mate, but you need to sort out your priorities in life," Bailey commented with a half-smile. "Because the slippery slope that's pointing you into seclusion and more power than you can handle is coming up a bit faster than I'd like to see."

"Hey, if it worked for Billy Gates, it can work for me," Ethan replied with a laugh.

"Okay, okay, and where were you planning on going with this little field trip?" Kira asked. She folded her arms over her chest, looking back and forth between her friends and teammates. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're a bit too young for the night life out here."

"Nothing a fake ID couldn't handle," Conner replied. He looked around when he noticed all eyes turned his way. "What? It's not like we couldn't figure out how to get one!" He pointed over his shoulder with this thumb. "and there's the fact that we have the resident artist with us. I'm sure Trent would—"

"— _Not_ ," Kira interrupted. "Trent would _not_ go for making fake IDs for us."

"Also, Angel Grove is too…'nice' for you to want to do that," Bailey agreed. She tilted her head to the side, eyes shifting back and forth behind her rarely used glasses. "It'll come back to haunt you later, trust me." She thought for a moment then said. "I think I know of a place where we can go to have a good time. It used to be the best place to hang out."

"Then that's where we should go!" Conner declared. "Anything is better than sitting around this place like we're a bunch of kids needing to be babysat." He turned on his heel and started off down the hallway. Only Kira's voice stopped him.

"Um, I think you're forgetting something," she called.

Connor stopped and turned back to look at her. "Um." He reached up and patted his hair, clothes, then checked his wrist. "Hair, clothes, morpher, I think that's everything I need."

"You're forgetting about Trent." Kira gave him a look and headed toward the opposite end of the hallway to knock on the hotel room.

Conner's face screwed up. "Right, I forgot to remember to bring your boyfriend along."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Kira hissed over her shoulder, stopping at his door. "Don't be such a jerk, Conner!" She said something else that Conner couldn't hear as she reached out and knocked loudly on Trent's door.

"I reckon it's not possible for him to _not_ be a jerk, yeah?" Bailey teased. Ethan snickered while Conner glared at the two of them. He barely listened, watching Kira intently as she talked to Trent, while Ethan went on to ask, "So what's this place like that you're taking us?"

"You'll see, it's actually pretty cool. We used to hang out there all the time."

"Any place where The Jason Scott used to hang out is alright with me," Conner said, snapping his gaze away from Kira and Trent when the White Ranger stepped out of his room to join them.

"is it just me have or have you noticed that he's always put a 'The' in front of Jason's name?" Ethan asked Bailey.

She sighed. "Just another conversation of who's the best ranger of all time." She put a hand up by the side of her mouth and stage-whispered, "Don't tell Tommy, but I think it's Andros."

"Do non-human rangers count in that discussion?"

"No one ever said a ranger had to be a human to be a ranger. Not to mention the fact that there was a team of rangers before ours that I'm pretty sure were from other planets so…"

"Are you brainiacs done?" Conner asked impatiently.

He noticed the looks everyone was giving him once more but couldn't help it. No one but him seemed to understand how important the day was. It was a Power Rangers Day. They were going to be celebrated along with the rangers before them. Even if no one knew their identities. It was part of the secret, but it was nice to be celebrated for something.

And even nicer for them to have other people they could talk to about being a ranger when they had to keep it a secret from even their closest friends and family. (And it helped that they were able to be away from Cassidy and Devin and their schemes to unmask the rangers' identities for a while).

"Well, if everyone's ready, let's go!" Bailey declared. "It's not too far from here."

"So, where are we going?" Kira asked as they all fell in step with each other.

"We're going to Ernie's!"

* * *

It was like he was going back to the first day of school all over again. Where Billy felt that he was the person who was the least ready for it. He was ready academically, had even bypassed his peers in his education long before others could walk. But he was far behind in the social scene.

Before meeting Kimberly, Trini, Zack, and Jason, Billy stood in the corner of the classroom, chewing his lower lip while his mother and father encouraged him to go and make friends. Patting him on the shoulder and telling him that everything would be okay, while he watched all the kids around him seem to make best friends in seconds. Jason and Zack—who he didn't know until later that they didn't know each before that first day—were watching each other do haphazard spins and jumps around each other. (Of which he later was explained that they were teaching each other the 'tricks' they knew how to do).

Kimberly and Trini had bonded over their My Little Pony Lunchboxes, the only differences between the two being the colors—pink and yellow. And there he was, wondering if he was going to fit in.

So when he arrived at the bar that night, meticulously taking the directions that Google had given him, Billy hesitated before entering the premises, feeling as if his stomach was going to explode out of nerves. Not just because it was the first time he'd seen or spoken to them in about ten years, but because he was worried what it meant for the reaction he'd get to it.

Happiness.

Shock.

Anger.

Disappointment.

All things he deserved, if he were being honest.

But how would he react, in turn? Would he fall back into his introversion? Back to the safe space that was his 'techno-babble' and 'smart-speak' that was comfortable for him. Always be the smartest guy in the room. But what worth was it being the smartest guy when his emotional intelligence was the one thing he managed to run away from quicker than a monster that managed to overpower him and his friends.

But he took in a deep breath and walked through the bar to his friends, whom he recognized instantly. He looked down at his own clothes, chuckling when he noticed he was wearing blue himself. Billy mentally shuttled through his closet, quickly determining that not only had he struggled with moving away from blue and black, but that he tended to stick to the same comfortable style as well, while his friends had at least grown up a bit with their dress styles. Thankfully, and it as something that gave him a little bit of relief, they hadn't moved away from their colors either.

He saw Trini turn his way, saw her eyes light up with excitement. Then she turned back to speak to the rest of his former team, unsure of whether or not they'd noticed her change in demeanor.

"And, of course, I've now gotten to the age where my parents are really starting to get on my case about getting married," Trini was saying as he approached. "I can't even tell you how many people they'd arranged for me to meet while I was with my family. I'm not sure what the statistics are on arranged marriages but,"—she pointed with her chin— "I'm sure Billy could tell you."

All heads turned his way, with wildly different expressions attached to them. Happiness, shock, surprise, indifference. He had no choice but to react then, they saw him. Billy urged himself to keep moving forward as he smiled awkwardly and lifted a hand to wave at his former teammates.

His former friends.

Jason was the first one to greet Billy. He got to his feet and reached out his hand, slapping it into Billy's palm before pulling him forward to grasp him in a hug. Then Tommy did the same, and Zack. Kimberly squeezed Billy as if she were squeezing the life out of him, and Trini threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Only Avalon remained sitting, giving a half-hearted wave with her beer bottle.

He nodded in response, taking the empty seat left for him, briefly wondering how things with Tommy and Kim went. Probably marginally better as their breakup wasn't as…tumultuous. What was it they called it now? He heard something about the name "ghosting" or "stonewalling" being used, but he wasn't so up to date on the slang that the young kids used those days.

"Well, if it isn't the main brain," Zack cried as Billy sat down with them. "What's been going on, man? We haven't seen you in forever."

"A lot of travelling can do that," Billy replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Trini nodding emphatically, and felt a stab of guilt rock his gut. Trini had bene travelling as much as he had, but she'd kept in contact with everyone else. At least, it seemed so. "But I've been pretty busy with work as well. Papers, exams, research, field trips, and that's only for my classes. There's still a lot of that I have to do for myself just to get tenure."

"That's why I decided to go into teaching high school," Tommy remarked. "Less work."

"Sure, if you don't count having to act as a mentor and a social worker to all of the teens you see on a daily basis," Kimberly said sarcastically. "Where you have to be their teacher in life let alone their teacher in class where, their parents will then blame you for any shortcomings they have." She waved a hand when all eyes turned her way. "Try doing all that on top of having to work with gym moms."

"Are they all as bloodthirsty as we'd think?" Avalon asked.

"Even worse," Kimberly confirmed.

Avalon grinned. "I might have to make it to your job one of these days." She took a swig of her beer and motioned to Jason. "What about you, Rudolph? What have you been up to lately?"

Jason lifted an eyebrow at her mentioning of his old nickname. Or, Billy wondered with a slight frown, there was something else there. Jason didn't look nearly as annoyed as he did years before. And while that could be a sense of maturity coming from them all, he was sure there was something else there. Billy wasn't a jealous person; he was just pondering what was probably a fact.

"Well, I don't have to deal with parents and crazy stage moms, but the life of a paramedic can be pretty hectic," He remarked. "There's more than enough stories that came from one day let alone the past few years I've been working." He shook his head. "The crazy thing is, some of the patients I've seen are struggling with thigs that have come up since encounters with the monsters we've faced." He pushed his drink aside and rubbed at his brow before admitting, "There's one with lung cancer after having been caught in a collapsing building from a Goldar attack, another one who's been having complications with his legs since breaking it in an escape attempt from an attack of Rito, someone who experiences epileptic seizures after a bad fall and hitting their head from facing putties." He shook his head. "It's a lot."

"Yeah, you never really realize how much your actions affect others until much later," Trini agreed. "Whether you were doing good or not." At that, Billy noticed Avalon and Zack exchange a glance. That didn't worry him so much, all of them knew that Zack had given up his powers of being a ranger to help out Av, facing the Vipers morphed to give them a warning. "All those lives lost…was it worth it for the evacuation plans put in place to help the city now."

"Was that before or after Astronema?" Avalon asked sarcastically.

"With the consistent presence of rangers and monsters from when we first started it had to have been a factor into it," Tommy said wisely. "It's what I'd looked into while studying for my degree. There were, about, six or seven straight years of monster attacks that happened, but Astronema succeeded in destroying the city. Any residual effects now could probably be tied back to that, just like all the cancer cases from 9/11. Maybe some from even when Rita first attacked."

"Or maybe we stepped on someone while in the Megazord," Zack joked. He noticed the stares turned his way and held up his hands defensively. "Sorry, I guess my jokes could use a little more work. I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit. It turned kind of heavy."

Desperate to change the subject to something lighter, Billy asked politely, "Well, what are you doing now, Zack?"

"Whatever job I can get," Zack replied. "Not many places want to hire you if you've been to prison."

 _Prison?_ Billy's eyebrows rose in surprise. He hadn't expected that. Zack was one of the people he saw going the furthest in life and that was from his personality and extroversion alone. Zack was always one of the guys who managed to defy any stereotypes that blew through Los Angeles in the 90s and did it all with a smile on his face.

"Ah, it wasn't that bad," Zack said quickly, noticing the disbelief in Billy's face. "It was actually a lot nicer than most people think. And, I'm able to say they protect prisoners well when there's a monster attack." He held up his finger. "But if anyone ever asks about an underground bunker, you didn't hear anything from me."

"We'll keep that in mind, Zack," Trini said with a laugh.

"But, to really answer your question Billy, I'm working with disadvantaged youth. Trying to keep people off the streets and make better choices."

"Where were you when I first got to Angel Grove?" Avalon asked.

"Probably keeping everyone away with your glare, Av," Tommy shot back. Avalon smirked over the lip of her beer bottle and pointed at him.

"I kind of expected you to say, 'don't call me Av' right there," Zack said, mimicking her in a high-pitched tone. He pointed toward Avalon as their friends laughed. "How many times did we hear you say that?"

"Oh, about, once a day," Kimberly teased, elbowing the former orange ranger.

Avalon smirked, lifting an eyebrow. "Do you want me to go into how many times I heard your yelling for Tommy?" Her smirk widened when she added, "And I'm not talking about when we were in battle?" The last of her words were drowned out by Jason, Trini, Zack, and Billy's laughter while Kimberly and Tommy pelted her with balled up napkins.

"Why did you hate us calling you 'Av' so much?" Jason asked once the laughter died down. "It's just a nickname."

Billy felt himself starting to smile, remembering all the times 'don't call me Av' would quickly come in response to anyone even shortening her name. He even remembered, when they first met, when Zack, jokingly, tried to give her a nickname to welcome her into their group.

 _"C'mon, we should get to class." The group then turned on their heel and started to walk down the hall to their class. Zack stopped when he noticed someone unfamiliar down the hallway at their locker. "Hey, have you guys ever seen her around before?"_

 _The others turned to see where he was pointing and spotted a girl with dark brown hair at her locker. She was wearing a black leather jacket over a white cami that showed some of her stomach and burnt orange shorts as well as black boots. On her face was an expression that was a mixture of anxiety and irritation as she watched students walk back and forth through the hallway. She then turned back to her locker, appearing to be looking for something._

 _"I think she's new," Trini said as she studied her. "I don't think I've seen her around before."_

 _"She's probably a transfer if she's here this late in the school year," Billy added._

 _"Well, being the new kid is never easy," Kimberly said._

 _She looked at Tommy for confirmation and he nodded in agreement. It wasn't that long ago that Tommy had first started at Angel Grove High School and now he was one of the most well-known guys in school. It helped that he was just as athletic and good at martial arts that Jason was._

 _Kimberly then beamed at her friends, a tell-tale sign that she was up to something. "Let's go introduce ourselves." She then walked over to the girl and stopped by her locker. "Hi, are you new here?"_

 _"You haven't seen me around, so I guess so," the girl replied, briefly looking away from her locker to look at Kimberly. Her brown eyes briefly looked the pink ranger up and down before returning to her locker. Letting out a short sigh, she continued to search through the books that have been shoved inside._

 _"Well, I'm Kimberly," Kimberly placed a hand on her chest before turning and pointing behind her. "And these are my friends Trini, Billy, Jason, Zack, and Tommy." Each of them gave a smile and wave as their name had been called._

 _"Avalon." She closed her locker and picked up her backpack off of the ground. Using her right hand, she pushed her hair off of her shoulders, the light bouncing off of a silver pinky ring. "Nice to meet you, I guess."_

 _"Oh, that's such a cool name," Trini said._

 _"But so long, do you have a nickname or something?" Zack asked. He put a finger to his chin as he started to think about it. "Avatar? Av? Avie? Lonnie?"_

 _Avalon's eyes flashed. "No, it's just Avalon."_

"Yeah, it was the nickname that was the problem," Avalon pointed out. Her smirk melted into a pensive expression. She shifted in her seat, bringing her foot up to rest on the edge of her seat, using her free hand to wrap around her knee. "It meant I was going to be around for a while."

Billy's eyebrows rose curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I only went by 'Avalon' when I got here because it would've been harder for people to find me," Avalon explained. "And, if anything went wrong with the Vipers, my name wouldn't be attached. Most people at home, called me Cadence. It's why my mom calls me that all the time. Back there, Bay was really the only person who called me Avalon. But the longer we were here, and the more people called me 'Avalon' or 'Av' it became obvious we weren't going to go home for a while. That Angel Grove was going to be our new home." She shrugged. "I reckon it wasn't something I wanted to think about, yeah? I really wanted to make enough money to get me and Bay home to our mum but…things didn't work out that way."

"I never knew that," Trini said.

"That's because I never told you," Avalon pointed out. She shrugged once more, picking up her beer bottle to take a sip. "It all worked out in the end, no worries. Angel Grove became our home…you guys became our home. After a while, we didn't want to leave."

She looked all her friends in the eye, keeping her gaze on Billy a moment longer, as if trying to make a point.

The message was well received.

"Awww." Kimberly reached out and threw her arm around Avalon's shoulders, pulling Avalon into Kimberly's side. "I knew you loved us. You could just never say it before."

"Yeah, because I was trying to avoid _this_ ," Avalon replied, prying Kimberly's hands from around her neck and shoulders. She jerked her thumb over to Tommy. "It's bad enough he's my brother, I don't need this, too."

"But it really is great to be here with you guys again," Trini said. She brushed her hair back from her face. "I thought about you all since I left Angel Grove. As great as it was to spend time with my family, you all are my family, too. So, it's good that Power Ranger Day could bring us all back together."

Billy nodded along with the others who murmured their agreed statements. But a healthy sense of skepticism wouldn't leave him alone. Would they have come back together like this if it wasn't for it being Power Ranger Day? And would they pretend everything was okay for the duration of the festivities or would the truth of everything come out?

Would Kimberly and Tommy finally talk about their breakup?

Would Kimberly explain the real reason why her demons ended up affecting her toward the end of her tenure of being a ranger?

Would Tommy explain what he had to do to move through his academic career as quickly as he had?

Would Zack face how his tenure of being a ranger ended?

Would Trini reveal more of her struggles with her family's expectations?

Would Jason finally speak about his guilt over everything that happened with the Green Ranger and the Green Candle?

Would he finally tell the other rangers the real reason why he decided to stop being a ranger and work as their technical advisor instead? How he couldn't give up his ranger past and had worked behind the scenes for years?

Would Avalon be more forthcoming about the Vipers? About her relationship with her father?

Would any of them admit that being a Power Ranger was as harmful to them as it was good?

"Okay, you know what will make this night even better," Kimberly said, grinning around the table, suddenly reminding Billy why he was considered the 'heart' of the team for every iteration of it she'd been on. "Ernie's ice cream!"

* * *

 **A/N:** It took me a long time to get back to this, but I have a lot of PR fics I'm working on and future ones I'm planning so I tend to jump around a lot. Anyway, this one is the one that jumped out at me the most for what I wanted to update so here you go! I hope you enjoyed the chapter despite the wait for it. Hopefully I'll be able to update things a bit more often, I do plan on doing _Headstrong_ and _Strength In Numbers_ next, and maybe continue to update _Taking A Chance_ despite it being a one-shot for now.

Then there's the Zeo story I plan on doing soon and, yeah, you get it. Lol.

Thanks again, you guys!

~ **Av**


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